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Comment by mark_l_watson | Hacker News Reader

I used to take news stories like this more or less at face value, but not anymore.

I am not sure what we (USA) get out of this but it seems to me like we have been encroaching on Russia's space for a while. Part of the deal we made with Russia when the Germany was reunited was that the USA and Nato would not start moving military bases and military capability up to Russia's borders. I think we have been doing that. Why? Is Russia really a threat to us?

The other thing that I find troubling is that many of our allies (Germany, France) don't seem at all enthusiastic over the sanctions against Russia. Why? I would like to understand the difference in what we (USA) want and Europe does.

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Likewise. I am highly skeptical of these stories now. The "terrorist" threat seems to have died after falling out of favour as the public slowly came to realise there never was any major threat, and now suddenly "cyber terrorism" and hacker attacks are everywhere and are apparently the greatest threat we've ever faced.

>The other thing that I find troubling is that many of our allies (Germany, France) don't seem at all enthusiastic over the sanctions against Russia. Why? I would like to understand the difference in what we (USA) want and Europe does.

I honestly don't know. The US keeps prodding Russia in recent years and for what? Is it another war they're after? What are the US hoping to gain here?

As a European I am delighted to see some of our leaders pulling back from supporting the US foreign policy.

> Why? Is Russia really a threat to us?

Well, ask Ukraine how this agreement has been working out for them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine#Bud...

Something in there about "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine". But hey, what are words on paper? Just words?

Then there's Putin's latest saber rattling: "Russia threatens to use 'nuclear force' over Crimea and the Baltic states".[1]

Yeah, Putin's a peaceful, misunderstood, fun loving guy. Certainly no threat to "us". Right?

But he is a threat to his neighbors. Perhaps the USA feels that the world (and by extension the USA) is better off if we at least attempt to restrain a megamaniacal egomaniacal plutocrat. The USSR isn't getting back together. Unfortunately Russia doesn't yet comprehend that.

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-threat...

The other thing that I find troubling is that many of our allies (Germany, France) don't seem at all enthusiastic over the sanctions against Russia. Why?

Europe gets a significant amount of their energy from the Russians[0] and any financial pressure from us on Russia is going to hurt them with higher energy prices. I would call their reaction "reluctant".

[0] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/21/world/europe/h...

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